Voter drop boxes for 'cowards': Ohio advocates push back on voting bill sponsor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Voting rights advocates are pushing back on the sponsor of a new state voting bill after he said voter ballot drop boxes were allowed for "COVID cowards" in 2020.

Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) made the comments in a radio interview on 700 WLW in Cincinnati when asked why he proposes limiting such drop boxes to one per county and only at the Board of Elections.

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"Last year we gave temporary authority to have one at the Board of Elections office because the COVID cowards were too afraid to walk into the Board of Elections and hand in their ballot," Seitz responded to radio host Bill Cunningham. "We said, 'okay we'll be nice – we'll give you a drop box.'"

Rep. Seitz's House Bill 294 would allow three drop boxes in each county, but only located at the Board of Elections, and only accessible there in the ten days prior to Election Day.

"When you want to proliferate these boxes all over hell's half-acre, you're going to have costs involved in surveilling them; in making sure they're monitored; in making sure people aren't putting things in there they shouldn't be putting in, and in making sure people aren't taking things out they shouldn't be taking out," Seitz told the radio show.

Voting rights advocates say the concerns are marginal, while the limits are damaging.

"What is the problem that exists with having drop-boxes available?" said Jen Miller, the director of League of Women Voters Ohio. "There's not a problem."

Miller pointed out that the drop boxes were not only used for voter ballots in 2020, but also to submit voter registration forms and absentee ballot requests. Rep. Seitz's bill would cancel that use of the boxes by limiting their use to ten days before election day — rendering the registrations and applications moot.

HB 294 would also:

• allow updated voter registration through the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
• prohibit “voter purging,” if the registered voter makes some form of action certifying they are alive and participating — such as signing a candidate/issue petition or interacting with the Ohio BMV
  
• create an online absentee ballot application process (requiring two forms of I.D.)
• prioritize driver's license or state-issued I.D. as official voter I.D., and allow other forms only when a voter does not have a valid state I.D.
  
• allow electronic paperless bank and utility statements as forms of voter I.D. (when a voter does not first have a state-issued I.D.)
• disqualify improperly packaged absentee ballots without an I.D. envelope
• eliminate in-person absentee voting on the final Monday before Election Day (Republicans say the Ohio Association of Election Officials wants this provision)
• end absentee ballot applications 10 days before Election Day, instead of the current three days
• disallow state-paid return postage on absentee ballots, unless otherwise approved by the legislature

Requiring two forms of identification may render the convenience of online absentee ballot applications useless to some, said Miller.

"This multiple I.D. process is not going to make it more accessible," she said. "There's also multiple I.D.'s during early voting, that I think could confuse poll workers and voters."

Meanwhile, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has floated the possibility of a companion bill being introduced in the Senate, which could speed the process of passing Rep. Seitz's bill or expand the provisions in HB 294.

President Huffman insisted Wednesday that the aim of the bills is not nefarious.

"I don't think the intent, or the effect, is to suppress votes," Huffman said. "When Democratic and Republican boards of elections folks say, 'this will help us run a better election so there are fewer mistakes on Election Day' – why isn't everyone agreeing with that?"

Jen Miller said while the League of Women Voters sometimes disagrees with local elections officials, they do remain the best source of knowledge on what works and what doesn't in local voting.

"It's my hope that lawmakers will hear about those ways that can improve the system, without harming our freedom to vote," she said.